Rakuten Securities Inc. Buys 70 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 8.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 906 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $165,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 113.6% in the fourth quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 43,640 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $7,941,000 after buying an additional 23,210 shares during the last quarter. Securian Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 96.8% in the 4th quarter. Securian Asset Management Inc. now owns 35,176 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $6,401,000 after acquiring an additional 17,299 shares during the period. Great Lakes Advisors LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 76.7% during the 4th quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC now owns 40,385 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $7,348,000 after acquiring an additional 17,534 shares during the last quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 138.8% during the fourth quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 6,081 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,106,000 after acquiring an additional 3,535 shares during the period. Finally, SHEPHERD WEALTH MANAGEMENT Ltd LIABILITY Co bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,781,000. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.32, for a total transaction of $43,170,393.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at approximately $199,159,581.28. The trade was a 17.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total value of $126,854.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 47,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,694,210.72. This trade represents a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,122,864 shares of company stock worth $204,315,811 in the last quarter. 2.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW opened at $179.48 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $185.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $184.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $118.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 101.12, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $132.50 and a 52 week high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PANW has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $212.50 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $165.00 to $192.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $193.50 to $224.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $192.50 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.06.

About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks, Inc provides cybersecurity solutions worldwide. The company offers firewall appliances and software; and Panorama, a security management solution for the global control of network security platform as a virtual or a physical appliance. It also provides subscription services covering the areas of threat prevention, malware and persistent threat, URL filtering, laptop and mobile device protection, DNS security, Internet of Things security, SaaS security API, and SaaS security inline, as well as threat intelligence, and data loss prevention.